262 On the Agriculture of the Netherlands. 



and the cummin gives a flavour which habit makes agreeable. 

 Buttermilk forms a considerable part of the food of labourers and 

 mechanics, as well as of children. They make a kind of soup of 

 it by boiling shelled barley in it, and sweetening it with treacle or 

 sugar. If it requires early habit to relish this mess, it is both 

 nutritious and wholesome to those who like it. 



Very large oxen are fatted in the rich meadows of North Hol- 

 land. They have large bones, and in some points would not 

 satisfy a judge of a Smithfield show. But it must be recollected 

 that milk is the chief object of the breed, and that good milch 

 cows are invariably deficient in some points considered essential 

 in a perfect ox reared only for fattening. The meat of the oxen 

 which are killed in Holland is excellent, and when salted makes 

 the best of ship provisions. Sometimes they are fatted with oil- 

 cake, and many with the wash from the distilleries ; but in gene- 

 ral they are simply fatted on hay and grass, which make by far 

 the best meat. 



The sheep in the Netherlands are large long-legged animals, 

 with dropping ears, which have nothing but their size to recom- 

 mend them. Merinos have been introduced, and some flocks of 

 mixed breeds are to be found which have finer wool than the old 

 indigenous breed. Some Leicester sheep have been imported 

 from England, but they are merely objects of curiosity. The 

 rich pastures in Holland are well suited to this breed. 



The horses in the Netherlands may be divided into two dis- 

 tinct breeds, the heavy Flanders horses, which are either light 

 chesnut-coloured, with white tails and manes, or roan. They are 

 bulky, but not active, and not to be compared with the Suffolk 

 punch, which breed came no doubt originally from Flanders, but 

 is much improved by a judicious choice of both the mares and 

 stallions selected for breeding. The Friesland horses are mostly 

 black, and some of them are very strong and active. A breed of 

 very fast trotters is encouraged by trotting matches, and thus con- 

 siderable activity is infused into the breed. A good Friesland 

 horse will do much work and draw very heavy loads. Oxen are 

 seldom seen to draw a plough, all the farm -work being done by 

 horses. The Dutch waggons are light, with a very narrow track, 

 to accommodate them to the narrow roads on the tops of the dykes. 

 A pole would be a great incumbrance in turning within a very 

 narrow space ; hence a curious substitute has been adopted — a 

 very short crooked pole rises in front, and the driver directs it 

 with his foot. A person unaccustomed to its use could never 

 drive a Dutch waggon, which requires great skill and judgment 

 to steer it. A drunken driver is discovered a long way off by the 

 oscillations of his waggon, which frequently runs off the dyke and 

 is overturned into the ditch on either side, the horses having no 



